The U.S. government imposes fairly strict restriction on the Internet, and its approach "remains full of problems and contradictions", said a report on the U.S. human rights record released on Friday.

The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011 was released by the Information Office of China's State Council in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 issued by the U.S. Department of State on Thursday.

The report said the U.S. Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act both have clauses about monitoring the Internet, giving the government or law enforcement organizations power to monitor and block any Internet content "harmful to national security."

Besides, the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010 stipulates that the federal government has "absolute power" to shut down the Internet under a declared national emergency.

"Internet freedom" is just an excuse for the United States to impose diplomatic pressure and seek hegemony, the report said.

Further, the report said the United States in fact imposes fairly strict censoring and control over the press and "press freedom" is just a political tool used to beautify itself and attack other nations while advocating press freedom.

The U.S. Congress failed to pass laws on protecting rights of reporters' news sources. An increasing number of American reporters lost jobs for "improper remarks on politics", it said.

"In the United States, the violation of citizens' civil and political rights is severe. It is lying to itself when the United States calls itself the land of the free," the report said.